University of Hull experts researching into food sustainability

A team at the University of Hull are hoping to feed the world with their research into food sustainability.

Their @Feed centre will be investigating how to feed an ever-growing population whilst protecting the Earth’s resources.

Dr Ludivine Petetin, alongside Dr Darren Evans and Dr Lewis Holloway, is one of the three researchers working on the project.

She says there are lots of challenges facing today’s current farmers:

“It’s not easy to be a farmer today unfortunately. There are various pressures in relation to animal welfare standards and how they increase more and more with the legislation, but also how there is a competition for land, more and more.”

Dr Petetin says people need to be aware of the issues:

“Food sustainability is a sustainable agriculture, where our food comes from, the food miles for instance so, do they come from the other side of the world? Or do they come locally? And of course what do people think about this?”

But she says more people are wanting to learn more about their food:

“Lots of people are interested in the food they eat, where it comes from, was it done in a way that didn’t harm animals, in a way that it didn’t use too many pesticides. So it’s important we produce our food in a more sustainable manner.”

Dr Petetin believes many people often forget where their food actually comes from:

“There is a lot of work behind it. There is a lot of resources behind it as well in terms of time, water consumption, fuel consumption and I think people forget that the food we eat comes from somewhere.”